American Author: Sinclair Lewis

Sinclair Lewis at work

"The impact of Sinclair Lewis's novel, Main Street, was far reaching. Mark Shorer called it, 'The most sensational event in American publishing history.' Two years after the book's publication, John Farrar wrote in The Bookman, describing the incremental popularity of the novel:

'Lewis's friends all bought the book, then the cognoscenti, then the literati, then the literate, a paltry thousand or so. Then the sleeping beast turned over, rubbed its eyes, and woke up. Fifty thousand. It howled in ecstasy of self-torture. One hundred thousand. His publishers estimated that it has beyond doubt reached two million readers. And people are still buying and reading it for the first time.'"

~from The Writer's Home Companion
by James Charlton & Lisbeth Mark

When I went with my parents on a quick trip from Seattle to Minnesota to visit family, we had the good fortune to stop and tour the boyhood home of one of my favorite authors, Sinclair Lewis. The house was tiny by modern McMansion standards, but it felt like a homey little place and what I remember most was that it was stuffed with interesting objects and there was the coolest playhouse-sized version of the house on the grounds. This pint-sized building was painted in the exact colors of the original and seemed to be perfect in every way. [If I could find the pictures, I'd post one here.]

Since I've matured, I've come to appreciate Lewis's work -- not only his humor and the complicated tone he took toward his characters, but the characters themselves -- caught up in the whirl of the Jazz Age and the Modern world it came to represent. This boy from the prairie ridiculed the people he wrote about, mocking them as provincial bumpkins from his progressive/elitist point of view. He sliced and diced them as surely and deftly as his father the country doctor performed emergency surgeries. But his people are so real, so full of emotion and drive -- and a million flaws -- it's easy to overlook any overwrought political commentary and just enjoy the story.

Ironically, Lewis's life ended in loneliness and alcoholism, very much like an unhappy and unsuccessful character from one of his novels. For a good introduction to his world, take a look at some films based on his books. I think the Burt Lancaster Oscar winning performance in Elmer Gantry would be an excellent starting point.

If you've never read any Sinclair Lewis, take a look and give these stories a chance to tickle your funnybone, make you cry a little and probably infuriate you with his sometimes heavy handed political views. But you'll never be bored!

For more information: Wiki biography, Nobel Prize autobiography, boyhood home & museum, interpretive center, Sinclair Lewis Days, Babbitt online, bio & list of works online [online restrictions in the US], Minnesota tourism.

Thanks for visiting!